Nine New Car Features You Don't Really Need Page 2

CD players, especially changers.Compact discs are on their way out of cars, and most manufacturers have already deleted CD changers from their options lists. The single-slot CD or DVD player is still widespread as a base sound system, or as a premium system when it's coupled with a navigation system, but if you're streaming audio via Bluetooth or a USB port, there's no need to spend more on another media reader.

DVD or streaming-TV entertainment systems. Keeping kids entertained and quiet is key on long car trips, and for the past decade, DVD entertainment systems have ruled the second- and third-row seats of minivans and crossovers everywhere. But there's a revolution already in hand that makes built-in DVDs and LCD screens seem so 2005--tablet computing. A Galaxy or iPad tablet is cheaper, portable, easier to manage and easier for kids to handle. They're relatively inexpensive, new or used, to replace systems that can cost three or four times as much, and can be updated with the newest software. The best part: Web connectivity through 3G that those hardwired systems can't match.